Every professional trader said market had changed dramatically over the years

[SimpleMeLike]

Somewhere there is a professional trader who hasn't said this .

henry76,

Henry , this was a really really great laugh.

 

[smallfil]

Technology changed obviously. People have access to knowledge easier now (Which has its advantages and disadvantages). I think markets have changed. When I look at the market, it is not just the graphs of Equities but overall everything from a farmer, cheesemaker, garment producer, furniture maker to a teacher and gardener. I think people are greedy more than ever, I also think people are more anxious,depressed and fearful now. These factors are all combined in global economy and peoples spending habits. The guy who runs the algos & robots is a human being. He also has his own joys and downfalls, he has debt, kids to look after like every other folk. The Market is there but its our thinking parameters which changed, makes it look like markets have changed

The market participants change, the hottest stocks change but, the market structure as it is, is still the same. Jesse Livermore, Nicolas Darvas, Richard Dennis all employed trend following and made huge sums of monies spanning decades probably, totalling atleast, 50 years between them. How were they able to amass huge sums of monies during their times if trend following did not work? Hedge funds continue to make monies year after year doing the same. However, their returns are more paltry like 18-20% per year. Not their fault. It is hard to move hundreds of millions of dollars to trade it and then, sell it when the time comes. They cannot sell millions of shares all at once because it will spike the share price or crash it as the case maybe. So, they exit like an elephant walking, slowly.

 

[ThinkOrSwim Ranger]

Yes, the market has changed a lot over the past 2 years. I can't say about medium-term trading, but I can write about intraday trading. Previously, stocks mostly gradually rose until approximately 11-11.30 am, and my strategy was based on this. Then everything changed dramatically and stocks began to rise only until 10 am. I had to redo the trading strategy, and then I lost a lot. In general, I noticed that strategies need to be constantly changed and adjusted to the market.

 

[MKTrader]

You want absolute proof? Look at the successful hedge funds, what trading strategy do you think they are doing? Read Michael Covel's book, Trend Following where he has the breakdown of yearly returns of the various, top hedge funds. Add to that, the Market Wizards book and read what the top hedge fund traders are doing. Nicolas Darvas was a trend follower, as was Jessie Livermore, as was, Richard Dennis of the Turtles? Richard Dennis at the time, made like $400 million or so, from the turtles, trading his monies. You are one of those buy and hold believers which is well and good. However, trend following is 1,000% better than buy and hold because you actually, have a methodology on when to take your profits. The problem, too many traders do not understand trend following and do not know how to use it. Yeah, stick to buy and hold because you do not have to use your brains at all. No thinking. I am not going to waste my time, arguing with you. You have a right to believe what you want, I have the same right to believe what I want as well. Traders and aspiring traders can make up their own minds.

Some of that proves trend-following worked many decades ago, before everyone had access to free charts, Excel spreadsheets, relatively cheap backtesting/system-building software, etc. It was in the early 90s when those things became more available (at least EOD charting and backtesting) that trend-following fell apart. The vast majority of hedge funds don't beat the S&P 500. That's my point. Look up the funds in Covel's book and see how they've done since it was published. I have nothing against trend-following and use a little of it personally, but only with a few other models as filters.

 

[bone]

I've been involved professionally in trading markets since the 1990's.

1. The markets are always changing. In fact, change is the only certainty.

2. The traders who have faced the most dislocation and disruption in the past three decades are the short term traders/scalpers/day traders. Tremendous changes both in the pits and on the screen.

Every professional trader said market had changed dramatically over the years, what exactly are the changes? Does the old classic TA trading books still good learning tools? What content can be learn from and what are the parts that new traders should ignore?

 

[bone]

I would say that swing trading / position trading (longer holding timeframes) has the most inherent stability in it.

 

[levanyashin]

I would say that swing trading / position trading (longer holding timeframes) has the most inherent stability in it.

Agree. But it also depends which paper you are holding, when and where. Otherwise whale gonna crawl it to eternity until he gets his shares back.

 

[newwurldmn]

There’s a constant trend of increased transparency, liquidity, and access to the markets and financial products.

It can be very disruptive for individual traders and trading firms.

I've been involved professionally in trading markets since the 1990's.

1. The markets are always changing. In fact, change is the only certainty.

2. The traders who have faced the most dislocation and disruption in the past three decades are the short term traders/scalpers/day traders. Tremendous changes both in the pits and on the screen.

 

[newwurldmn]

99percent of the traders on this site couldn’t have traded their strategy 30 years ago.

 

[destriero]

99percent of the traders on this site couldn’t have traded their strategy 30 years ago.

A sample of twelve isn't stat-significant.